Cloud services co TriPlay raises $5 million

The company said that it will use the proceeds to bring its technology into new and emerging markets in Asia and Europe.

"TechCrunch" reports that cloud services company TriPlay has raised $5 million in its third financing round. With offices in the US and Israel, TriPlay develops cloud services that allow users to consume music and other media across different devices. The company said that it will use the proceeds to bring its technology into new and emerging markets in Asia and Europe, and hire more people, including a CMO.

"Techcrunch" says that funds were raised from new investor and petrochemicals tycoon Kenges Rakishev, a Kazakh businessman who is investing in high tech companies. TriPlay has raised $15 million to date, from angel investors and CEO and founder Tamir Koch.

TriPlay enables users worldwide to access, manage, share and enjoy their music, photos and videos across any computer, mobile phone, tablet or web-enabled television.

There are hundreds of thousands of users of TriPlay’s cross-platform streaming services and with partners like Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) mobile phone unit Pelephone Communications Ltd. Musix and Conduit SendSMS, the figure goes up to 11.8 million. The motive behind entering emerging markets is that smartphone and tablet use are in earlier stages, which feature phones still driving sales for companies like Samsung and Nokia. However, this situation is swiftly changing, and with smartphones and tablets a major driver for cloud service uptake, the company feels this is a good time to pick up new users just beginning to look for these solutions.

This was the opportunity that attracted Rakishev. He said, “TriPlay is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the growth in mobile usage and global demand for cloud services." Rakishev will join TriPlay's board.

"Techcrunch" observes that while Apple and Google have been developing their own cloud-storage and access services to complement their larger mobile businesses, TriPlay has benefitted from other companies having less developed strategies. The start up's flagship product, MyMusicCloud has had particularly strong pick-up among BlackBerry users, helped in part because it was a featured app on RIM’s App World. MyMusicCloud is also the only music-synching service preloaded on Toshiba’s tablets and personal computers, and it integrates Dropbox and Google Drive among its storage options.

TriPlay says that Android and BlackBerry are currently its top-two most popular platforms for usage, but it also benefits in general from market fragmentation, with users (Apple fanboys and girls excluded) rarely looking only to one platform for all their products.

Koch says the company will also be looking for more partnerships with local players as part of its growth. TriPlay is the third startup founded by Koch who sold Orca Interactive to Emblaze in 2000, and Dotomi to ValueClick in 2011.

MyMusicCloud offers a catalog of 11 million songs, song lyrics and ringtones. Users can use the service to share music on Facebook and it supports 23 different languages.

TriPlay has also developed MyDigipack, which is a photo storing and sharing service that works like the music offering, that opened a beta site earlier this year.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 22, 2012

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012

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